Creating a Yoga Space for Your Apartment

Creating a proper yoga space in your apartment is essential for practicing yoga. Having the space will also encourage you to practice yoga more often, which can help reduce your stress and improve your health.

Setting Aside the Adequate Space

Yoga will require you to bend, stretch and flex into all sorts of positions. You’ll need to stand with your hands completely over your head and you’ll need to lie completely on the ground and reach your hands above your head without touching anything. You’ll need to roll on your side and stretch out your legs. The proper yoga space allows for adequate movement with at least 6 feet of space in each direction.

When Stuck with Small Spaces, Make the Space Multi-Functional

Designing a yoga space with 6 feet in all directions may seem impossible to the apartment dweller stuck with small rooms, but you can design the area by making the space multi-functional. The best way to do this is to fill the area you set side with easy-to-move furniture and storage items, like a storage unit on wheels or easy-to-lift chairs and a coffee table.

When you want to practice yoga, wheel or carry the furnishings into the hallway or wherever else you have space (but be careful not to block access to your door in case of emergency). Comfortable apartment living means making the most of all of your space and you can set aside adequate clear space for yoga by making sure the area has other functions when you’re not using it for yoga.

Make Sure the Area Is Quiet

When choosing your yoga space, you should try to pick the quietest area in your apartment where you can make the room. Because yoga so heavily relies on your ability to relax and free your mind of distractions, you don’t want to be inundated with traffic noises, noisy neighbors and barking dogs. If you can’t find a quiet area of your apartment, you can hang or install sound-muffling drapes and fabrics over the windows, walls and even ceilings in the room where you want to create your space. You can also play relaxing music in an attempt to drown out the other noises and help you set the mood.

Set the Mood with Lighting

Although not always avoidable, practicing yoga under the harsh glare of the lightbulb can make the experience less relaxing. You should rely either on natural sunlight, which can lift your spirits, or dimmed lightbulbs or candles, which can give you enough light to see what you’re doing but also help relax you by keeping the room darker with less glare. If you choose the former, select a room with a large window or sliding glass door—as long as you don’t live in a too noisy area. If you choose the latter, plug a lamp into a dimmer switch or set candles around the room. Be careful to keep the candles out of your reach area, as you don’t want to knock them down when stretching.

Remember that a proper yoga space allows for adequate movement, is quiet and relaxing and, as an apartment dweller, is easy to use for another function when you’re not exercising. Even in the smallest of spaces, you can make a space for yoga when you use these principles to create the space.